The Rollout of Dish Network's 5G Wireless Network Will Have Big Impacts on Broadband Policy

In 2023, broadband policy debates will center on how states expend tens of billions of dollars to deploy broadband networks in unserved and underserved areas, most through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. But that will not be the most consequential broadband deployment of the year. While BEAD is critical to rural areas and represents good public policy, it probably only affects 10% to 20% of the population, and the actual deployments will not occur until 2024 or later. Rather, the most consequential construction story will involve DISH Network’s new nationwide 5G network, which Federal Communications Commission rules require be built out for 70% of the US population by June 14, 2023. This network could be disruptive in at least three ways:

1. As a greenfield build for a new service provider, the network could have both a cost structure advantage and incentives that offer lower prices, creating a pricing dynamic that could affect all American broadband consumers;
2. It intends to focus on wholesale offerings much more than incumbent providers, which could also be disruptive to the current market structure;
3. It is using a different network architecture—Open Radio Access Networks, which use cloud-based, virtualized, and open architecture principles—that, if it works well, could change how wireless networks are built in future generations.